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Is this question acceptable?: The Halmos Dozen-which 12 Would YOU Choose?

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    • CommentAuthorAndrewL
    • CommentTimeAug 16th 2010
     
    In his incredible autobiography, I WANT TO BE A MATHEMATICIAN,Paul Halmos said that a splendid mathematical education can be obtained by actively reading the first 10 pages of a dozen or so serious treatises on mathematics' various subfields.I'm not sure if that's true,but one would certainly have a much deeper understanding of each of those subfields by doing so.

    My question:If you were assigned a reasonably bright graduate student to be given a brief "overview" mathematical education via this method to serve as the basis of further study,what 12 or less books would YOU assign?
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    You're asking if this would be an appropriate question for MO?
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    I don't think that is a very good paraphrase of what Halmos wrote. I recommend giving the exact quote, if this goes anywhere.

    I don't have a strong opinion on the question, but it seems appropriate for a blog if nothing else.
    • CommentAuthorHarry Gindi
    • CommentTimeAug 16th 2010 edited
     

    As written, I would vote to close. I'm not really confident that this question can be asked in a way that would change my mind because, as Jonas said, it sounds like it belongs on a blog.

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    For those who are curious, the exact quote, from p. 65 of Halmos' "Automathography", is:

    "(I wish I had read the first 10 pages of many more books -- a splendid mathematical education can be acquired that way.)"

    In my opinion, this is too discussiony to make a good MO question.

    • CommentAuthorCSiegel
    • CommentTimeAug 17th 2010
     
    I agree with Pete and Harry, and would vote to close this question if I noticed it
    • CommentAuthorYemon Choi
    • CommentTimeAug 18th 2010
     

    My problem with this question would be as follows: not so much that it's "discussiony", but that any answers to it would be subjective and in many cases hypothetical. How could one give a sensible answer without having tried this method out on some unwitting/unfortunate students?

    Besides, people have very different and equally valid tastes in books, sometimes changing their own opinions as they get more mature or jaded mathematically.

    (My current feeling on big-list resource-type questions is that I prefer them to ask about actual practical experiences and not be speculative: thus, "which books have you recommended to interested 2nd-year undergraduates, in order to give them a flavour of higher mathematics", and the "have you" should not be replaced by "would you". But this is only my personal preference and is not meant as any claim that this should be the policy.)

    • CommentAuthorMariano
    • CommentTimeAug 18th 2010
     

    Well, we could pick some unwitting/unfortunate students and carry out the experiment... I'm pretty sure the Helsinki declaration does not apply to them, so the hassle should be minimal. And it sounds like fun.

  9.  
    I would actually be interested in an answer to such a question, but i do agree that it probably isnt right for MO. Hence my suggestion of an alternative site for such discussiony questions.

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